1st Round Gets Underway
Martin Bronstein, Squashtalk reporter on the scene at Grand Central Terminal

by Martin Bronstein, Live at Grand Central Terminal, New York, 19 Feb 2005
All content © 2005 Squashtalk, photos: © 2005 Debra Tessier

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GOUGH THWARTS GRANT

Adrian Grant has everything going for him except the wish to volley and a real killer instinct - but perhaps those two go together. By rights he should have rolled over Alex Gough, the ageing (over 30) former world number four, but a series of errors in two games robbed him of a victory that his career badly needed .

Grant, the first black player to represent England when he played in the 1996 Cairo World junior champs, has had Lottery funding and the best help available for many years now. He has also got the full confidence of England coach David Pearson, yet somehow he has never truly fulfilled that promise.

Grant started well to indicate a 3/0 victory by winning the first game 11-8 in 12 minutes. But that all fell apart in the second game as his errors allowed Gough to stroll away with a 11-4 win in 8 minutes. It was all quite inexplicable.

The fight commenced in the third game as Grant fought back from 4-6 down to lead 10-6. But he let up and Gough grabbed the opening with both hands to force a tie break. The next two rallies ended with Grant hitting simple drops into the tin to lose 12-10 after 18 minutes. It should never have happened and I'm sure coach Pearson and Paul Carter drummed it into him to drive to the back to tire out the older player. Grant did that in the fourth with immediate results to win the game in seven minutes 11-6.

He seemed unable to keep that up in the fifth and at 3-3 he was upset when Gough was given a stoke, even though Gough was striking a ball that had gone past him. This was a harsh decision from Graham Waters. At 4-4 Waters refused Grant a let after Grant bumped into Gough on his way to the ball. Waters said that Grant had not taken a direct line to the ball. This was rubbish: Grant was moving from the front of the court to the back left and Gough stood on the T barring his way. The decision affected Grant to the point where he lost the next three points on bad errors and then another two as Gough found lucky nicks on the side and backwalls. Gough stood at match ball 10-5 and Grant hit one glorious winner to get to 10-6 before Gough himself hit a perfect nick to win the match.

It was 72 minutes of frankly uninspiring squash as both players grooved the ball down the sidewalls with only occasional flurries at the front. Grant will go home a sadder man; perhaps his coaches should spend the next months making him volley everything in sight, even passing pigeons.

SCARED BUT VICTORIOUS

That slim man mountain known as Mohammed Abbas beat Simon Parke 3/0 in their first round match but admitted to me later that he did not go into the court full of confidence.
"I was frightened of Simon. I am always frightened because I know he is so experienced. In Dayton last month he was playing so well and I have been watching him play since I was very small. So I am always aware how well he reads the game from his experience," Abbas said, slightly relieved that his game plan had worked.
That plan was nothing new: control the T and control the game.
"I knew if he controlled the game and we started running, I would stop first," he said with a huge grin.

Despite the scoreline, it was fine, interesting squash - one of the best matches so far this year in New York. Parke is never outplayed and although there were points when Abbas threatened to run away, Parke always managed to hang in there and get back in with a chance.

In the first game, the Egyptian's superb racket work and clever ball placement constantly put Parke on the back foot allowing Abbas to build to a 9-3 lead, but Parke got to everything and put in a few winners of his own to get back to 10-8. Abbas finally put a stop to the comeback to win 11-8.

By the second game Parke was in top gear and played point for point until 7-all but finally Abbas's length and constant mixture of shots had their effect. Abbas had the second game 11-6 after 10 mins, looking comfortable and confident,
The third game followed a similar pattern but this time Parke could only stay level to 5-5 before the Abbas barrage of chops to the front stretched Parke to such an extent that he never got another point. Abbas had taken just 37 minutes to beat the man he feared.
It should be noted that they played squash in the old-fashioned way with very little use of the referee and perhaps just one disputed decision. Nice to see.

MATTHEW FAULTLESS IN FAST WIN

The afternoon opened with Nick Matthew proving his ranking by beating an impatient Hisham Ashour of Egypt in straight games in 28 minutes. Ashour knew that he couldn't afford to play the long game against Matthew and tried for winners from all over the place with predictable results. Matthew is not a top ten player for nothing and played impeccable squash hardly making an error in the three games.

In the second match, an all French affair between world number one Thierry Lincou and Renan Lavigne, ended predictably in Lincou's favour. Like Matthew, Lincou showed too much class and too many shots for his limited opponent. He also walks and acts like a world champion and now has the sort of confidence that gives him a four point start in every game. It will be interesting to see what happens when Lincou and Matthew meet in the quarters.

TOC 2005 1st Round Results:

[1] Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Renan Lavigne (FRA) 11-2, 11-8, 11-4
Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt Simon Parke (ENG) 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 (37mins)
]7] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt Hisham Ashour (EGY) 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 (28mins)
Alex Gough (WAL) bt Adrian Grant (ENG) 8-11, 11-4, 11-10 (2-0) 6-11, 11-6 (72mins)

1st Round underway in Grand Central (photo: © 2005 Debra Tessier)